Brokeback Mountain premieres
On this day in 2005 Brokeback Mountain starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as a pair of cowboys who meet as sheep herders in Wyoming in 1963 and begin a romantic relationship that endures for two decades premieres in New York City.Helmed by the Taiwanese director Ang Lee the movieearned eight Academy Award nominations including Best Picture Best Actor (Ledger) and Best Supporting Actor (Gyllenhaal) and took home three Oscars including Best Director.Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana shared a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for Brokeback Mountain which was based on a 1997 short story by Annie Proulx.
In addition to its awards the film did well at the box-office.However some groups criticized Brokeback Mountain for its portrayal of a same-sex relationship and one theater owner in Utah backed out on an agreement to show the film.Brokeback Mountain marked Heath Ledgers first Academy Award-nominated performance.The actor who was born on April 4 1979 in Perth Australia appeared in Australian television shows and films as a teenager and had his first Hollywood hit with 1999s 10 Things I Hate About You.
Ledger followed up on that film with roles in The Patriot and Monsters Ball (both 2000) before headlining a string of poorly reviewed box-office duds including A Knights Tale (2001) The Four Feathers (2002) Ned Kelly (2003) and The Brothers Grimm (2003).Following the breakout success of Brokeback Mountain Ledger went on to play one of several incarnations of the music icon Bob Dylan in 2007s Im Not There.On January 22 2008 Ledger then only 28 years old was found dead in his New York City apartment from an accidental prescription-drug overdose.
He had recently completed filming on The Dark Knight the fifth film in the big-screen Batman series.That film opened in theaters on July 18 2008 beating out the previous record-holder 2007s Spiderman 3 to score the highest-grossing weekend of any movie in history (some 158 million).Critics specifically singled out Ledgers portrayal of Batmans nemesis The Joker as one of the films strongest aspects.Ledger was survived by his young daughter Matilda who was born in 2005 to Ledgers then-fiancee Michelle Williams who played the wife of his Brokeback Mountain character Ennis Del Mar.
Matildas godfather is Jake Gyllenhaal.Brokeback Mountain also marked the first Oscar nomination for Gyllenhaal who was born on December 19 1980.The actor made his big-screen debut in 1991s City Slickers in which he played the son of Billy Crystals character and went on to appear in such films as October Sky (1999) Donnie Darko (1999) The Good Girl (2002) The Day After Tomorrow (2004) Jarhead (2005) Zodiac (2007) and Rendition (2007).
